Ugandan popstar politician under house arrest for second day running
Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - A Ugandan popstar who is eyeing the presidency is under house arrest for the second consecutive day after he got into a confrontation with the security forces following the blocking of his musical show on Easter Monday.
Robert Kyagulanyi, who performs under the stage name Bobi Wine, had scheduled the concert to take place at a beach he owns near Kampala, but the police disallowed it with a day left claiming that he had not adhered to the public order management law. This is the second consecutive time the police has blocked Kyagulanyi’s concert at the same venue, the previous one having been on December 26 last year.
On Monday, Kyagulanyi drove to the venue and ignored the police’s orders to vacate the entrance of the beach. The police reacted by breaking the popstar’s windscreen before they pulled him and out, forced him into a police vehicle and drove him to his home. Police and military personnel have since remained stationed at Kyagulanyi’s home fifteen kilometers outside Kampala in what police spokesman Fred Enanga says is “a preventive measure”.
Kyagulanyi, after his concert was blocked, had threatened to walk to the police headquarters to deliver a protest letter to the police chief, which the police fear would lead to an uncontrollable crowd following him. In how Kyagulanyi is being treated, the police is borrowing directly from the script that has been used to contain Dr Kizza Besigye, Museveni’s main nemesis for the past two decades.
On different occasions when Besigye has threatened to lead protests, he has been blocked from leaving his home, and in 2011 Besigye got a court ruling in his favour that the blockade on his home was illegal. After the 2016 election when he protested against what he called a rigged election, however, he was again blocked from leaving his home.
Kyagulanyi, 37, dived into the political ring in June 2017 by winning a seat in Parliament and has since declared that he will challenge long-serving president Yoweri Museveni in the 2021 elections.
A graduate of music and drama, Kyagulanyi produced numerous songs for over a dozen years and enjoys name recognition across the whole country. He has rallied the youth in many places he has visited since his decision to join politics, which has invited the wrath of the police.
Over the past one year, Kyagulanyi has had his planned concerts blocked in at least seven towns across the country, with only one concert allowed at his beach in November last year. The concert was attended by thousands, dressed in red, which has become the colour of resistance against Museveni.
In many respects, it appeared more like a political rally than a concert, with Kyagulanyi calling on the youth, the biggest voting group in the country, to take their fate in their hands and register in preparation for voting out Museveni.
Museveni, in a rare comment about Kyagulanyi’s activities, last month advised the popstar to stick to music and leave politics to politicians.
-0- PANA EM/VAO 23April2019
